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L. P. DEMING. AGTIONF UPR HT PIANOS Patented Sept. 15, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LYSANDER F. DEMING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

REPETITION-ACTION FOR UPRIGHT PIANOS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 326,278, dated September 15, 1885,

App icatii-n filed November 19, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LYSANDER F. DEMING, of the city and county of New York, in the State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovementinUpright-PianoActions, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to what are known as repetitionactions, which are constructed so as to hold the hammer, after striking,in position for repetition without falling back on the hammer-rest rail.

The object of my invention is to provide an action simple in its parts and having provision for extremely rapid repetition.

My invention is an improvement on that class of repetition-actions in which the hammer-butt has in it a notch with which engages a tooth on the jack; and the invention consists in novel features in the construction of the jack, and in the combination of other parts therewith, as hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a partly sectional elevation of an action embodying my invention, the parts being held in position for repetition; and Fig. 2 is a similar view with parts at rest, the hammer being in a position of rest on the hammer-rest rail.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in both figures.

The parts of the frame for supporting the action are shown in the simplest manner pos sible, as they constitute no part of my invention.-

A designates the board, and A the uprights (one only being shown) at the ends thereof, which support the action.

B designates a rail, which serves in this example of the invention both to support the hammers and dampers. B designates the hammer-rest rail, and B designates the rail which supports the jack-operating levers.

O designates the hammer, (only one of which is shown,) which is intended to strike upon a string, a, and the butt 0 of which is secured by a flange, b, to the rail B. These flanges b are or may be double, each supporting at opposite ends a hammer and a damper-lever, D, which forms no part of my invention, the damper not being shown.

E designates the jack for actuating the hammer O C. It is fulcrunicd to a flange, a, carried by ajack-supporting and jack-operating lever, F, which is in turn supported by a flange, (f, on the rail B G designates the key which is fulcrumed at e, and acts, with its end portion upon thejacksupporting and jack operating lever F, to

elevate said lever, and through the jack to In the face of the hammer-butt O, with which the jack E engages, is a notch, g, and at the upper end of the jack is a hook or tooth, h, adapted to rest in and engage with the notch, as seen in Fig. 2. The hammer-butt O, is also furnished with a back-check, 2', which is made of flat metal or wire, and which is elastic so as to exert a springlike action on the jack E when the latter strikes it. This back -check 2 extends outward from the hammer-butt O and thence downward and inward toward the butt, the backcheck being curved or bent, as shown. The jack has on its outer side and opposite the hook or tooth h an outward swell or projection, under which the curved back-check 2' comes to a hearing. The back-check 2' acts as a spring to throw the jack forward into on gagement with the notch g, and hence quickens the operation of the jack in repeating.

It will also be seen that the construction of the jack with an outward swell or projection opposite the tooth or hook it, and the formation of the back-check with a return-bend extending toward the hammer-butt and adapted to come under the swell or projection on the jack, holds the hammer most effectually from falling forward prematurely in re peating rapidly.

Suppose, for example, that the hammer is in the position shown in Fig. 2-that is, at rest upon the rest-rail B. If the key G is now struck the top of the hook or tooth h on the of the notch and strikes the string.

jack E, acting against the top or upper side the string the tooth or hook it leaves the notch its front in addition to the elastic hook or g, owing to the shape of the latter, and slips hook-like back-check, and to a jack having a forward and upward out of the notch and hook or tooth for engaging with the notch 25 against the back-check t, thereby bringing in the hammerbutt, as well as an outward 5 the hammer, jack, and other parts to the poprojection on its front for engaging the elastic sition shown in Fig. 1, where they remain hook-like back-check on the hammer-butt. ready for repetition so long as there is press- \Vhat I claim as myinvention, and desire to are upon the key. secure by Letters Patent, is- 0 WVhen the key G is wholly released, the In an upright-piano action, the combination,

1 tooth or hook h passes into the notch g, and with the hammer-butt 0, having the notch g, the parts come to the state of rest shown in of the jack E, having the hook or tooth h, and Fig. 2,with thehammeragainstthe rest-rail B. l opposite said hook or tooth an outward swell In my application for Letters Patent, Serial or projection, and a back-check, 1', consisting 5 No. 152,828, filed January 14, 1885, I have of an elastic piece fixed in the hammer-butt r 5 shown and described and claimed a hammer and having its lower end portion curved inprovided on the front of its butt with an elasward toward the hammer-butt, so as to come tic hook or hook-like back-check, in combinabelow the outward swell or projection on the tion with a jack having on its front a projecjack, substantially as herein described.

tion to engage with the said hook. I do not, L. F. DEMING. 20 therefore, claim this combination, broadly, in XVitnesses: my present invention, but desire to limit this FREDK. HAYNES,

invention to a hammer-butt having a notch in l\IATTHEW PoLLocK. 

